Archive for the ‘Federal Reserve’ Category

Yesterday was a victory for what Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) described as a “Waterloo for Fed secrecy.”

In a bipartisan vote of 43-26, the House Financial Services Committee voted in favor of an amendment to audit the Federal Reserve — something that hasn’t been done since the bank’s inception nearly 100 years ago.

Grayson cosponsored the bill with Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) who has been introducing similar legislation since 1983. The amendment is based off of Paul’s “audit the Fed” bill, H.R. 1207, which has 300 cosponsors.

According to a press release, the proposed amendment does the following:

Allows audit of every item on the Fed’s balance sheet, all credit facilities, all securities purchase programs, etc.

Retains limited audit exemption on unreleased transcripts and minutes

Sets 180-day time lag before details of Fed’s market actions may be released

States that nothing in the amendment shall be construed as interference in or dictation of monetary policy by Congress or the GAO

For too long, the Federal Reserve has been acting in secret — dishing out billions as it sees fit to whom it sees fit. The Paul-Grayson amendment, if passed, will give a look into the books of the private banking institution.

I’ve never been a big fan of Michael Moore. His film Fahrenhype 911 suggested the September 11 attacks occurred simply because our leaders were incompetent. And his film SICKO painted a totally inaccurate, rosy-colored picture of Cuba’s healthcare system. But I’ve got to hand it to him, his most recent film, Capitalism: A Love Story, released on Friday, hits the nail on the head.

In the film, Moore goes door-to-door to the benefactors the Bush bailout, holding an empty cloth sack with a dollar sign painted on it and demanding the “American peoples’” money back.

Representative Marcy Kaptur (Dem), is featured in the film discussing the bailout:

Similarly, the short film The Fed Under Fire features author of the book Secrets of The Temple, William Greider, denouncing American corporatism and the Federal Reserve. In the film Greider says:

“The Federal Reserve, from its origins, is very, very close to the biggest banks and financial houses in the country. Always has been and always has governed with that in mind.”

I have one problem with the film, and that’s Moore’s use of the word capitalism. What Moore is really addressing in his new film is corporatism — not capitalism.

Corporatism is a:

Political system in which power is exercised through large organizations (businesses, trade unions, etc) working in concert with each other, under the direction of the state.

Simply put, it is the merging of business and government. The separation of corporations and government is, in my opinion, equally as important as the separation of church and state.

It’s exciting to see Moore revealing the bailout and banks for what they are. In time, I hope he realizes it was the fusing of government and financial institutions, not free markets, that led to the heist of the American people.

Addressing the current financial crisis, Paul tells the Time reporter:

“The Federal Reserve is the culprit and if we can get an audit we could reveal exactly what they do. Because they deal in trillions of dollars of extending loans to special interests, special banks, special corporations, they make deals with other central banks and other governments of the world. So they’re a government to themselves and they print their own money.”